"I interviewed community members and staff at Six Rivers as well as community members who were in contact with the student athlete before and after he briefly visited Six Rivers."

Northern Humboldt Union School District Suprintendent Roger MacDonald responded yesterday to followup questions I asked about alleged claims of a Mckinleyville High underage student drinking and there being an alleged cover up.

We had a brief conversation right after the original post appeared.

My questions:

Both you and Mr. Collart say the incident was "throroughly investigated." Mr. Collart was not the principal at that time, you were. So my questions are for you.

1. Investigated by whom? 

2. What independent investigation was conducted by anyone other than Mckinleyville High, Northern Humboldt Union High School District or Six Rivers Brewery?

3. Who provided the video? Six Rivers Brewery? Was that the extent of your investigation?

4. Was the student involved disciplined in any way? If not, why not? Are you saying he did not have a fake ID and did not drink any alcohol? Was he or was he not sitting at a table with his coaches and was there was alcohol at that table?

5.Did Dave Navarre or anyone else have any conversations with the people who reported to Six Rivers Brewery that the minor was allegedly drinking?

I have specifics from my source and I am interested in your side of the story. 

Suprintent MacDonald's response:

"Regarding Mr. Navarre, I have no knowledge of his participation in this interview process.

There is very little that I can share with you regarding this alleged incident because the law requires pupil records and personnel records to be held confidential. Records of pupil discipline, if they existed, are also confidential. It is concerning to me that your source may have violated the law by disclosing pupil records to you, and I would like to know what, exactly, she has given to you.

What I can share is that I investigated the incident extensively over the course of three days. I interviewed community members and staff at Six Rivers as well as community members who were in contact with the student athlete before and after he briefly visited Six Rivers. I interviewed the student in question twice and spoke with the accuser twice. She told me that she did not see him consume alcohol but assumed that he was as he was sitting with adults who were drinking alcohol with their dinner. There are no witnesses and no evidence that he attempted to purchase alcohol or consumed alcohol.

You may want to ask your source if she personally saw the student consume alcohol or if she was merely making an assumption based on the student’s presence at a restaurant that serves alcohol, where the presence of minors is lawful. I also reviewed video with Six Rivers management. The video supported the statements of those with whom I spoke with. Please note that the video alone was not the sole source of my conclusion that there was no evidence of misconduct.

Lastly, please know that when investigating possible student misconduct we do not differentiate between students based on their athletic or other school program participation."

I am going to call him tomorrow and in confirming that response, Suprintendent MacDonald added: "Sounds good John.  I have to tell you that in our conversations last year she was great.  I felt like we had ended up with a common understanding of what happened that night.  We have not talked since."

Original post:
http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/10/mack-high-varsity-basketball-player.html?m=1

Post from Mad River Union regarding NHUHSD:

http://mckinleyvillepress.com/brown-act-trampled-in-nhuhsd-damage-control-frenzy/